South Sudan

Abstract

Horrific attacks on civilians began within 24 hours of the start of South Sudan's new war in mid-December 2013. Thousands of civilians have been killed and large parts of key towns, including civilian infrastructure such as clinics, hospitals, and schools, have been looted, destroyed, and abandoned. An estimated 1.5 million people were forced to flee their homes; 100,000 people still shelter in United Nations compounds, too afraid to return home. Three years after South Sudan's independence famine looms on the horizon, and the conflict continues, despite peace negotiations in Ethiopia.The conflict, triggered by fighting in Juba, the capital city, between soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, and those loyal to his former deputy, Riek Machar, a Nuer, followed growing political tensions. Kiir maintains the violence was a coup attempt by Machar, a charge the now-leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army-in Opposition forces has denied.Lack of accountability for decades of violence during Sudan's long civil war helped fuel the conflict. Military and political leaders have failed to make any serious attempt to reduce abuses committed by their forces, or to hold them to account. In the period between mid-December and mid-April, armed forces on both sides targeted and killed hundreds of civilians, often because of their ethnicity, and pillaged and destroyed civilian property. These crimes amount to war crimes and in some cases may be crimes against humanity. Following fighting between government and defecting Nuer soldiers in Juba on December 15, government forces conducted a brutal crackdown on Juba’s Nuer population that included targeted killings, house-to-house searches, mass arrests, unlawful detention of hundreds of men in poor conditions, ill-treatment, and torture. Human Rights Watch documented more than 60 separate cases of targeted, extrajudicial killings of one or more individuals.